Professor Hubbard Presents Solo Exhibition at Lakeland CollegeThe Bradley Gallery at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisconsin is featuring a solo exhibition of oil paintings by Professor John Hubbard. The thirty-six paintings represent images of Upper Peninsula landscapes that Professor Hubbard created during his recent sabbatical. The exhibit entitled "John Hubbard New Works" continues until December 11, 2009 with a reception/convocation on Friday, October 30th from 4:40 -5:30 p.m.
Drawing/Paintingart.nmu.edu/department/draw/faculty.html
October 29, 2009
Professor Letts’ Work Featured in ArtPrize CompetitionArtPrize, an unprecedented competition that awarded more than $500,000 based on a public vote, was held Sept. 23-Oct. 10 in Grand Rapids. More than 1,260 worldwide artists participated, including art education Professor Michael Letts. ArtPrize transformed a three-mile district through downtown Grand Rapids into an exhibit space. Letts said artists paid an entry fee, created a Web page featuring their work and then applied to a particular venue in the hope of showing there. Each venue had its own jurying process. He was one of about 30 artists from 1,100 applicants selected to display pieces in the highly coveted DeVos Place—considered among the top 10 venues for the city-wide show. In his artist statement, he wrote: "My paintings echo the northern forests of Michigan in every season. But the images represent more than the visual. Evocative of deeper experiences, they personify the landscape as metaphor. The paintings are drawn from specific places that resonate in memory, places that strike with their presence, enchanted places. They recall the vision quests and rites of passage of a time when we lived closer to our spirits." (from CAMPUS, NMU Communications and Marketing department) Painting on right entitled "Monument".
CAMPUSnewsbureau.nmu.edu/campus/2009/1015/letts.htm
Art Education
art.nmu.edu/department/art_ed.html
October 22, 2009
SEED Program Produces Brochure for Huron County Economic Development Corporation
The first project completed for Huron County Economic Development Corporation by the Studio for Experimental and Eco Design (SEED) was a brochure featuring a map of area farms in the Huron County region of Michigan. The Food and Farm Trail brochure guides visitors through the farming communities of Michigan's Thumb featuring the counties of Genesee, Huron, Lapeer, Macomb, St. Clair, Sanilac, and Tuscola. The brochure highlights the location of locally grown foods, community supported agriculture, farmers markets, orchards, you-pick operations and county stores. Brianna Bader, a recent graduate of the school's new art history program, created the brochure in a graphic communication course taught by Professor Jane Milkie. The brochure is distributed throughout northeastern Michigan and will later be expanded to a web resource.
www.huroncounty.com/
The Studio for Experimental and Eco Design (SEED)
art.nmu.edu/department/seed_news.shtml
Graphic Communication
art.nmu.edu/department/graphic_comm.html
September 15, 2009
Study Abroad Course Features European Design Culture The School of Art and Design offered the first short term study abroad course in the winter semester of 2009 in order for students to gain a broader understanding of the business of design. The special topics course "European Design Culture" organized by Professor Peter Pless, provided eight students with a rigorous ten-day tour through the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. The tour featured visits to Marcel Wanders Studio, The Design Academy Eindhoven, Vitra Design Museum (including an exclusive tour of the archives), a one on one meeting with the renowned Maarten Baas, the Milan Furniture Fair and numerous other design museums. The students found the trip to be of great value to their education not only in respect to their experiences but also to realize their potential as entrepreneurs functioning at a global level. The picture at right features Professor Pless and his class at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany.
Vitra Design Museumwww.design-museum.de/vitra/index.php
Salone Internazionale del Mobile
www.cosmit.it/tool/home.php?s=0,2,67,71,75
Human Centered Design
art.nmu.edu/department/human.html
May 13, 2009
School Hosts Photoshop Wars 2009Photoshop Wars was hosted by the School of Art and Design on March 20, 2009. Students were given one hour to complete an image utilizing Adobe Photoshop. The image was based on a theme announced at the beginning of the event, which required fast idea development and even faster execution from the participants. The first battle of the day was a solo battle in which each participant completed an image and the battle was won by Melissa Miron. The solo event was followed by a team battle in which teams of two or three participants completed a single image. Coordinated by Stephan Larson, the event was created to have an entertaining, competitive arena for students to show-off their technical, design and conceptual skills. The time limit not only adds to the intensity of the battle, but also mimics a real-world situation where solutions often need to be completed in a very short timeframe. As added motivation, prizes were awarded by a panel of Art and Design faculty and a separate Audience Choice award was determined by the voting of participants and audience.
Photoshop Warsart.nmu.edu/pshopwars/
March 23, 2009
Art and Design Student Wins TLC AwardThe annual NMU TLC awards are given to students that exhibit exceptional use of the NMU laptop in their academic coursework. Electronic Imaging major Michael Beckett won a TLC Student Award in the Technological Sophistication category for a series of images he created using Adobe Photoshop and a website he developed using Adobe Dreamweaver. The award will be presented during the Celebration of Student Research, Creative Works, and Academic Service Learning on April 16.
"The series of images and the website… demonstrate considerable creativity and attention to detail, and offer an outstanding example of what is possible with the laptop computers that are provided through the TLC program."
http://webb.nmu.edu/GrantsAndResearch/SiteSections/AboutUs/TLC_2009StudentAwards.shtml
March 19, 2009
Professor Leete Selected for the Challenge VII: dysFUNctional ExhibitionProfessor William Leete has been selected along with 30 international artists to participate in the exhibition Challenge VII: dysFUNctional sponsored by the Wood Turning Center. Challenge VII twists functional design into dysfunctional contemporary art. The artists designed components that work with and against each other's in content, form, surface and movement-evoking humor, curiosity and suspicion. Challenge VII continues the series initiated by the Center in 1987. The mission of the Challenge series is to invite artists to free themselves to create a piece of unique and unexpected work that they never take time to make. William Leete states about his sculpture work Soul Seat: "Chairs have long been recognized as emblematic of the physical body, even of human expression and culture. Soul Seat embodies a sense of aspiration and pathos and of the interior self that others can never experience. The nature of the soul is a conundrum that each of us can solve for ourselves". Artists from Australia, Canada, England, France, Italy and the United States are included in the exhibition. Challenge VII: dysFUNctional will be presented at the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from October 2, 2008 through January 17, 2009, followed by a three-year national tour.
www.woodturningcenter.org/2008/exhibit6/index.html
Woodworking
art.nmu.edu/department/Wood.html
Furniture Design
art.nmu.edu/department/furn_product_wood.html
November 24, 2008
Students from HCD Program Receive Awards from International Design CompetitionThree students from Professor Peter Pless' course AD 311 Human-Centered Design: Concept and Technology received awards from the web-based magazine, Yanko Design, Form Beyond Function. The competition, open to designers from around the world, emphasized solutions to different aspects of poverty that were judged based on concept, cost to implement, and deployment. Receiving the Silver award was Sara Melvinson, for her project "Hidden City". The Special Recognition award was presented to Adam Trebel for his project "Red Cross". In addition Ethan Przekaza received an Honorable Mention award for his design project "H20ME". HCD student Jessica Rick was also a finalist in the competition with her "Table Tent" concept. Professor Pless has stated about the competition, "We are raised as designers with a notion that design needs to have an elitist component embedded into the artifact that we create. However, this four-week concept exploration forced us to examine the real issue of need versus want from a very unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable perspective. Through the research and development of this project, I saw a profound change in attitudes and awareness develop within the class. The four selected students in this competition exemplify the quality and thoughtfulness that I attempt to convey within all Human-Centered Design courses"
Yanko Designwww.yankodesign.com/2008/10/30/design-for-poverty-winners/
Human-Centered Design
art.nmu.edu/department/human.html
November 04, 2008
The School of Art and Design Offers a New Major in Art HistoryThe new art history major incorporates the School of Art and Design cognate core's focus on visual, physical and social structures. Other core courses in the program include an introduction to ideas in art history, a two-semester analysis of world art and two upper-division seminars in art history methodology and research.
Students can choose from a broad range of elective courses in Japanese, Native American, American, Baroque, Nineteenth-Century and Twentieth-Century art history. Additional courses such as History of Photography, History of Modern Design and a course focusing on crosscurrents between Japan and the West round out the current elective offerings. With this range of electives along with the world art history courses, the program has an emphasis on non-Western and applied art.
A major in art history prepares graduates for employment or further study in museum management, curatorship, archiving, art education, art criticism, arts programming, reporting and publicity, exhibition design, art consulting, collection management, librarianship, arts appraisal, events planning, volunteer coordination, archeology, historic preservation and commercial gallery employment. Art history has even been an alternative path into the area of studio art (a career as a professional artist) for some artists. Prospective art history majors may contact Professors Robert Lalonde, Steven Leuthold, or Mitsutoshi Oba at 906 227 2194 or at the faculty email link below.
art.nmu.edu/department/art_history.html
Faculty Contact Information
art.nmu.edu/department/ad_info_contact.html
October 21, 2008